I am an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow (tenured Senior Lecturer from April 2024) working in the field of evolutionary and behavioural ecology. I am interested in exploring theories of sex allocation, sociality and sexual selection. I use a number of different approaches to study furry animals, including rodents and marsupials, in both the field and the lab. Through supervising student projects, I also work on less furry animals, including birds and reptiles. I place a strong focus on generating conservation-based outcomes. For example, I am dedicated to understanding how increased ambient temperatures influence sex allocation outcomes and ultimately population dynamics. I am also exploring how behavioural responses may assist our native rodents in coping with Australia's changing climate.

1. Adaptive sex allocation and sperm sex ratios (ARC Future Fellowship)

Primary collaborator: Assoc Prof Paco Garcia-Gonzalez, Donaña Biological Station, Sevilla, Spain

2. Behavioural resilience to climatic variation in pebble mound mice (ARC DP)

Primary collaborator: Prof Dustin Rubenstein, Columbia University, New York City, USA

3. Postmating sexual selection in house mice

Primary collaborator: Prof Leigh Simmons, University of Western Australia

4. Night song in Willie wagtails

Primary collaborator: Assoc Prof Mandy Ridley, University of Western Australia

Student projects:

- Aging, sperm sncRNA expression and fertility in human males

- Investigating sex ratio skews in a captive bred threatened marsupial

- The impact of bandicoots as ecosystem engineers on Dirk Hartog Island

- The Greater Stick-Nest Rat (Leporillus conditor): investigating stick-nest properties, habitat use and population dynamics at Mt Gibson sanctuary in Western Australia

- Quantifying shell hardness in Western Swamp Tortoise: implications for the Perth Zoo breeding program

Total funding (all sources): $2,000,000

Key projects:

2022-2025 Australian Research Council Discovery Project: $360,000

2019-2024 Australian Research Council Future Fellowship: $760,000

2014-2018 Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award: $393,000

2013 Fortescue Metals Group Pty. Ltd. Research Contribution: $50,000

2010-2012 Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship and Discovery Project (APD): $390,000

2019-2024 Australian Research Council Future Fellow (UWA)

2014-2018 Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow (UWA)

2013 UWA Centre for Evolutionary Biology Postdoctoral Researcher (UWA)

2010-2012 Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow (UWA)

2009 Centre for Evolutionary Biology Postdoctoral Researcher (UWA)

2023 Australasian Evolution Society Vice President Elect

2015-2021 UWA Animal Ethics Committee category B member

2015-2021 Perth Zoo Research Committee UWA representative

Current:

ANIM5110 Biology of Australian Marsupials (primary coordinator/lecturer)

ANIM3353 Wildlife Conservation and Management (co-coordinator)

ANIM3365 Behavioural Ecology (lecturer)

ANIM5502 Evolutionary Ecology (student group leader)

Past:

ANIM2227 Animal Form and Function (co-coordinator/lecturer)